# Could you manually keep score of a game of bowling if you had to?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 9, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454 "2011-07-09T22:59:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/1 "2011-07-09T22:59:12Z")
It’s been at least two decades since I’ve had to keep score when I bowl, but since I started bowling in a league before I was a teen, I had the method drilled into me pretty well.
Nowadays, I am somewhat bemused by the number of folks who don’t know how to keep score though, and rely on the electronics, either at the lane or on their Wii. This lack of ability comes to light when they don’t know what they’ll have to roll in terms of spares or strikes to beat a certain score, as the game draws to a close.
How about you? Can you keep score without help?
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2011, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/2 "2011-07-09T23:04:45Z")
Been a while here but I probably could - I even had bowling for a quarter in high school phy ed!
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### Author:  [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/3 "2011-07-09T23:06:15Z")
Yeah, It would take me a second to figure out miltiple strikes and spares but I could.
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### Author:  [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/4 "2011-07-09T23:13:40Z")
I have to be able to keep score on my own- I bowl in leagues and tournaments.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/5 "2011-07-09T23:57:47Z")
As long as I don’t get too many strikes or spares, which shouldn’t be a problem.
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### Author:  [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/6 "2011-07-10T00:14:14Z")
I generally know how to do it and could probably keep score if I absolutely had to _and_ I had a sheet of paper, but I’ve never actually done it and I suck at bowling (although I enjoy it) so it’s more a point of hoping for the best rather than beating a certain score.
I went bowling with my daughter last week, though, and she learned how to score in a college gym class and actually passed a test on it!
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### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/7 "2011-07-10T00:20:45Z")
Spent a lot of time in bowling alleys with my mom and dad (who met in a bowling league) and definitely remember ye goode olde days. I can definitely manually score.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/8 "2011-07-10T00:23:01Z")
In my sleep. Too many league and fun games well into my 20s.
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### Author:  [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/9 "2011-07-10T00:35:05Z")
When I started bowling there was no other method.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/10 "2011-07-10T01:02:19Z")
I guess I bowl so little, I forgot that people didn’t do that anymore. I guess they use those computer scorer thingies.
I can do it easily.
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### Author:  [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/11 "2011-07-10T01:38:44Z")
What’s so tricky? A strike is 10 plus the next 2 rolls. A spare is 10 plus the next roll. 10th frame is exempt, of course.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/12 "2011-07-10T01:42:42Z")
We had a bowling alley down the street from our house and my mom and dad bowled in leagues. They also took me bowling frequently. I learned how to keep score manually. There was no electronic scoring then. It was all done on a scoresheet with a pencil. The alley even had pinboys.
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### Author:  [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/13 "2011-07-10T01:44:55Z")
Yes. The bowling alley at university has manual scoring.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/14 "2011-07-10T01:46:08Z")
I’d probably need to refresh my memory, but I used to be able to do it. My husband and I used to bowl fairly regularly, as it was a cheapish form of entertainment, or at least the bowling alley on the various Air Force bases were cheapish. The grill was always pretty good, too, in every bowling alley. Best hot dogs I ever tasted were from the Torrejon AFB in Spain.
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### Author:  [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/15 "2011-07-10T01:57:23Z")
> [@markdash](#):
>
> What’s so tricky? A strike is 10 plus the next 2 rolls. A spare is 10 plus the next roll. 10th frame is exempt, of course.
10th frame is not exempt. Notice the three boxes in that frame. If you bowl a strike on your first ball you get to role twice more, a spare gets you one more. a perfect game, 300, gets 30 pins per frame. You have to bowl three strikes in the 10th frame to get there.
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### Author:  [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/16 "2011-07-10T01:59:43Z")
I first learned how to do it in phys ed in middle school. Then, I got to put those skills to use when I bowled at the tiny bowling alley at GA Tech, which didn’t have electronics. I haven’t done it in years on paper, but I keep score in my head when I bowl.
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### Author:  [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/17 "2011-07-10T02:09:43Z")
> [@USCDiver](#):
>
> 10th frame is not exempt. Notice the three boxes in that frame. If you bowl a strike on your first ball you get to role twice more, a spare gets you one more. a perfect game, 300, gets 30 pins per frame. You have to bowl three strikes in the 10th frame to get there.
What I meant is you don’t automatically add the next 2 rolls to a strike in the 10th frame. The 10th frame has its own rules.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/18 "2011-07-10T02:23:44Z")
Another old bowler here who knows what the score is.
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### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/19 "2011-07-10T02:51:33Z")
The entire concept of playing a game and not understanding how it’s scored is alien to me. I guess if you just like rolling balls into stuff and knocking it over.
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### Author:  [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-manually-keep-score-of-a-game-of-bowling-if-you-had-to/588454/20 "2011-07-10T03:15:51Z")
In my sleep, for ten players, and with my rigth hand.
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